Reports claim that Alisher Usmanov has made a £1billion bid to buy-out Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, but BBC reporter David Ornstein has dismissed it.
As noted by Sky Sports, it had been suggested that Usmanov has launched the buy-out bid, and although there has been no immediate response from Kroenke, it’s widely expected that he’ll reject the proposal.
With Usmanov currently owning 30 percent of the club with a personal fortune of around £11.2bn, he evidently has the means to make his ambitious plan a reality, but as noted by Ornstein in the tweet below, Kroenke doesn’t sound as though’ll be loosening his grip on the club any time soon.
Re Usmanov bid, Kroenke has reiterated long-term commitment to Arsenal, says aim is to win PL & make #AFC a force in Europe, not about money
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) May 20, 2017
Usmanov would seemingly be keen to listen to supporters over Arsene Wenger’s future in that Sky Sports reference comments he recently made suggesting that the French tactician should be preparing a successor already.
However, he’s unlikely to hold the power to influence the situation if Kroenke rejects his proposal as expected, and although Wenger has received plenty of criticism from supporters in recent times, there have been protests against Kroenke and his running of the club as the Gunners continue to fall short on the pitch and off it in the transfer market.
With a lack of ambition from top to bottom, it’s argued that a change in the hierarchy is necessary to push Arsenal in the right direction, but it doesn’t sound as though that change will be coming in the near future.